Egypt Riots: Who Is The Egyptian Military Supporting? Protesters or Muslim Brotherhood? Jan 2011 the SemiFinal, June 2013 the Final?

Maggie’s Notebook contributor Findalis, who blogs at Monkey in the Middle, posed the question in comments here yesterday of who the Egyptian Military will support if the protests beginning in Alexandria and moving to Cairo tomorrow turn out to something more than a peaceful protest. The Guardian interviewed an Egyptian Army source who indicates the Military will lean toward protesters. An opponent of Morsi said January 2011 was the semi-final, June 2013 is the finaland Morsi will go.

Morsi-Mubarak

A senior military source told the Guardian on Thursday that the army did not want to intervene. But they stated that if Sunday’s protests were as widespread and prolonged as those that drove Egypt’s 2011 uprising, and if serious fighting broke out between Morsi’s supporters and his opponents, then the army may regard the protests as a more legitimate representation of the people’s will than the elections that brought Morsi to office a year ago – and would step in to facilitate a transition of power to a technocratic caretaker government.

The eventual scale of the protests nevertheless remains uncertain, and could yet prove highly exaggerated. But some of Morsi’s opponents are convinced 30 June will be as pivotal as the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

“It’s a second revolution,” claimed Ahmed Said, a leader of the National Salvation Front (NSF), the secular opposition’s largest coalition. “The semi-final was played on 25 January 2011. This is the final. I don’t know how long it will take, but Morsi’s going to go – and Egypt will never be the same after the 30th.” Source: The Guardian

There appears to be confusion over how, exactly, the military will respond Sunday or whether it is taking any sides. It has warned that it will intervene rather than allow the country to fall into what defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called a “dark tunnel of conflict,” and he has been moving troops into position around cities across the country.

There are calls in Egypt for the military, which handed power over to just a year ago, to assume power in Egypt again. As Mohamed put it to VOA, “If clashes aggravate, the military should take power for a temporary period of four years – a full term. Then after this period, new presidential elections should be held.” Source: Voice of America

So far the military is sitting on the sidelines. In fact Morsi and family taken to Presidential Guard’s headquarters. We might be seeing the end of Muslim Brotherhood rule in Egypt. The Egyptians will only be pushed so far before they rebel.